Land Registrar summoned to court over land given away by Atamasthanadhipathi!

Anuradhapura District Judge and Additional Magistrate Nadeeka D. Piyarathna ordered the Registrar General of the Government and the Anuradhapura District Land Registrar to file objections in Court on June 22 against a case filed by the wife of a businessman in Anuradhapura over a land worth Rs.100 million given as a deed of gift by former Atamasthanadhipathi Pallegama Siriniwasa Nayaka Thera. 

H.M.Dulanjali Dinesha Kumari Herath, a resident of No. 03/2 A/260, Isurupura, Anuradhapura, has filed the case through lawyer Aloka Bandara Premaratne in the Anuradhapura District Court challenging the decision by the Registrar General not to register the said land gifted by the Prelate five days prior to his demise. 

The Registrar General of the Government and the District Land Registrar of Anuradhapura have been named as respondents.

Petitioner Herath told the court in her petition that she is the recipient of the deed of gift and the late Sirinivasa Thera is the donor of the deed No. 5493 written and certified by a notary in Anuradhapura on 13.10.2022 in relation to the land referred to as Elaboda Kale located within the Anuradhapura New Town. 

She said the deed has been certified and submitted to the second respondent Anuradhapura District Land Registrar for registration by paying fees to the North Central Provincial Council and to the government for registration.

The petitioner said the decision taken by the respondents to refuse to register this deed cannot be accepted and that the gift deed has been duly signed by the parties and witnesses and certified within the proper jurisdiction. Accordingly, the petitioner said she has submitted an appeal to the respondents through a notary requesting that it be registered.